LOS ANGELES >> It’s just a matter of time — a swarm of locusts followed by a robot uprising. What else is left?
As if the 2020 season hasn’t been jampacked with enough oddities — from drone delays to seven-inning games and leadoff two-run home runs — the Dodgers and Angels added a power outage Saturday night.
With the Dodgers leading 5-4, Kiké Hernandez flew out to left field to end the sixth inning. Seconds after Angels left fielder Taylor Ward made the catch, the power at Dodger Stadium went out, plunging everything on and off the field into darkness.
Some lights came back on quickly (plus the scoreboards) but the stadium lights did not, leaving several Dodger players lounging on the field near third base. In the empty stadium — no longer filled by fake crowd noise — the players could be heard urging umpires to “Bang it.”
But the same two teams that brought you a game shortened by a sewage leak (the preseason Freeway Series two years ago) resumed play after a 25-minute delay with the Dodgers finishing off a 7-6 victory over the Angels.
“That was spooky. It was dark,” Dodgers right-hander Tony Gonsolin said. “It got real dark, real fast too. A few seconds earlier (with the ball in play) and it could have been dangerous.”
Angels manager Joe Maddon called it “surreal.” Dodgers third baseman Edwin Rios went with “weird” as a descriptor for sitting in a blacked-out, almost-empty stadium.
“I panicked for like two seconds, to be honest,” Rios said. “It was so dark. I couldn’t see anybody and I was in the dugout. It was kind of weird.”
By comparison, Jo Adell’s home run assist was old hat.
For the second time this season, the Angels outfielder went back to the wall and had a long fly ball in his glove only to have it pop out and over the wall for a home run. In this case, Rios was the beneficiary in the eighth inning.
Adell’s glove has produced almost as many home runs as his bat (three) this season.
The Dodgers have had no shortage of power this season. Rios’ home run was one of three in a three-inning span Saturday night, giving the Dodgers 16 and counting in the first five games of this season-ending homestand and an MLB-leading 116 this season.
Joc Pederson’s two-run homer in the sixth — before things went dark — turned around a one-run deficit and put the Dodgers on top to stay in a game that started with a 52-pitch first inning by Angels right-hander Julio Teheran.
The Dodgers scored three times in the inning but it was the sixth of Teheran’s 52 pitches that did the most damage. He hit Mookie Betts in the left hip with a 90-mph sinker. Betts stayed in the game to run the bases but came out after that.After the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the move to pull Betts was precautionary and he might be out of the lineup in Sunday’s season finale as well just to make sure he’s ready for the postseason on Wednesday.
For Pederson, the homer was his first since Sept. 4 and a positive step towards making his case for the postseason roster. Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin’s case has already been made. But his role remains unclear, the Dodgers unwilling to name a third starter for next week’s Wild Card Series — or any starter at all (openers and bulk roles being examined).
“He’ll be on the roster,” Roberts confirmed. “We just have to figure out in what capacity.”
Gonsolin gave up four runs in a start for the first time since his major-league debut last June. But he did it all in one inning, the third. The Angels were 4 for 6 that inning with a two-run triple from Jared Walsh the big hit — and 3 for 17 the rest of the time during Gonsolin’s six innings.
“Not great today. Didn’t do a great job in one inning executing pitches, pitch selection overall was not great in one inning,” said Gonsolin whose ERA jumped from 1.77 to 2.31 in the outing.
“Fastball command wasn’t great in that inning. I was trying to go down with a few pitches and left them more middle up.”
Will Smith’s leadoff homer in the eighth put the Dodgers up by three. It proved to be the deciding run when the Angels scored twice off Alex Wood in the ninth. Adam Kolarek closed it out, stranding the tying run at third base and the go-ahead run at first.
Lights out: Dodgers’ power stays on, stadium power goes out posted first on https://anaheimsignsorangecounty.blogspot.com
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